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President of Tri-Crescendo, Hiroya Hatsushiba, based the curious concept of upcoming 360 role-playing game Eternal Sonata on a desire to bring the music of Frederic Chopin to a wider audience—in this case, gamers.

In the game, players exist in a dream world concocted by the composer as he lies on his death bed suffering from tuberculosis which took the life of the famed Polish composer at the age of 39. This dream world grants magical powers to those suffering from incurable illnesses. Chopin’s music is incorporated into the game as unlockable rewards for completing side quests.

Considering the recent “are games art?” debate being held publicly between the likes of Roger Ebert and Clive Barker, perhaps the inclusion of already established artistic work can help lend some weight to Baker’s pro-art arguments.

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After an avalanche of press following its showing at E3, Bethesda is now soliciting questions from the community. In theory they’ll accept and answer questions about any of their properties but it seems pretty obvious from the comments so far that the main point of interest is Fallout 3.

With so much skepticism from the old school Fallout fans over the direction Bethesda is headed and the casual dismissal of those concerns that most of the mainstream gaming press has displayed, this could be a good chance for the developers to clarify some of the hows and whys diehards have been losing sleep over since the game was announced.

As if you didn’t already have enough reasons to be drooling over BioWare’s newest RPG, Mass Effect, this Director’s Cut video of the footage seen at E3 will make the wait all the more unbearable. Now, stop reading this and go check out the video on the official Mass Effect website.

Before you get excited, it’s not the good Kirby. (Well, not what I’d consider good, at least.) The SNES’ Kirby’s Dream Course is the big name title this week, and a week where a Kirby-themed golf game is headliner isn’t really a good week for the Virtual Console. Nevertheless, you’ll also be able to pick up Devil’s Crush, a pinball game and the RPG Shining Force, which may sound familiar because it received a remake on the Game Boy Advance in 2004.

The original Paper Mario – which was a straight-up RPG, unlike the recent Wii title – has finally made its way to the Virtual Console in the US. The timing of the release seems a bit odd – you would have thought it should have come out at the same time, if not prior to, Super Paper Mario did. Nevertheless, this was one of the best games on the N64 bar none, so make sure to pick it up for 1,000 Wii Points ($10).

The other two releases are both forgettable, however. Balloon Fight (500 points, NES) and Silent Debuggers (600 points, TurboGrafx16) aren’t worth their price tags, and by today’s standards, aren’t particularly good. Do the sensible thing; buy Paper Mario, and don’t waste any points on these two duds.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we learned about Hellgate: London as I got a tour of a few levels with Tyler Thompson, Flagship Studio’s director of technology.

Platform: PC

Release date: Still shooting for summer 2007 - which, let’s face it, is right now. According to Tyler, “We’re still working for that. If it takes a little bit longer, then we’ll let it take a little bit longer.” In industry speak that means, “If you don’t see it by August, you’ll see it for the holidays.”

Look: Flagship Studios, at its top levels, is populated by ex-Blizzard brains, including Diablo creators Erich Schaefer and David Brevik (and don’t forget Bill Roper, who played an integral role in the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series). So, think Diablo, but much, much better looking. Tyler told me that the game is in the alpha stage. I’m used to seeing games in alpha looking a bit rough around the edges. This game was, in the levels he toured me, free of jaggies and visual glitches. The word that comes to mind is “shiny.” I found it to be very reminiscent of Diablo in look and feel. Of course, bear in mind the tour was guided, which means I only got to see the best looking areas.

The biggest improvement in look, and, ultimately, playability, is the improved camera from Diablo 2. Gone is the fixed, third-person isometric camera in favor of 360-degree, fully rotational viewing.

It’s about time – finally, Xbox 360 owners who weren’t fortunate enough to play The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on Xbox or PC can now do so on Xbox 360. The update brings the total number of back compat Xbox games to over 300. And all games are upscaled, so those who have been waiting to play NBA Live 2002 in 720p or 1080i can now do so.

Over on Gamerscore Blog, a list has been posted with all of the games being shown at E3 that will be available this year. Xbox 360 games, Xbox Live Arcade games, Games for Windows-branded titles, and Games for Windows Live-enabled games. It’s a lot to digest, and with big name games like BioShock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Guitar Hero III, Sonic the Hedgehog (the original, don’t worry), Puzzle Quest, Company of Heroes: Opposing Forces… let’s just say there’s something for nearly everyone.

I’m going to come right out and say it: I’m coming away from Sony’s presentation more impressed than I was either Nintendo’s or Microsoft’s. They were very straightforward and showed exactly what we all wanted to see: the games.

In fact, this was one of the more impressive E3 press conferences in recent memory – check inside to find out why.